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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Cooking With Chocolate – How to Cook A Mole Poblano

Chocolate is a by-product of fermented cocoa beans. These beans are eventually dried, cleaned, and then roasted. The shell is later removed to produce cacao nibs which are grounded then liquefied. The liquefied form becomes chocolate liquor which is made out of pure chocolate. In addition, this liquor can be furthered turned into two components which can be used for cooking: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. And the great thing about these two components is that they can be used to cook chicken mole poblano.

If you are not familiar with a mole poblano, it is the national dish of Mexico. It has at least twenty ingredients which also includes chili peppers and complemented by chocolate. If you are interested in cooking this delicacy, you should have the following ingredients: three ancho chillies, 3 pasilla chillies, 3 mulato chillies, 1 finely chopped-onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 30 grams of toasted almonds, 30 grams of toasted sesame seeds, 1 tsp of ground coriander, 6 large chopped, de-seeded, blanched and peeled ripe tomatoes, 60 grams of raisins, 60 grams of dark chocolate having at least 70% cocoa content, 150 milligrams of chicken stock, 1 tsp of ground cinnamon lard for frying, 1.8 kilograms worth of chicken pieces, and some black pepper for flavoring.

Chicken Mole Poblano

Though that is a pretty lot of ingredients, the result will be worth it. What you have to do first is to remove the stem and seed of the chillies then toast them in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes. Make sure to stir it frequently so that it will not stick to the pan. Then transfer the chillies to the stock and allow the chicken stock to rehydrate for at least twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, remove the chillies from the stock and put them in a blender along with the onions, garlic, almonds, sesame seeds, spices and add some black pepper until they become a smooth paste.

Afterwards, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or double boiler then put a little lard to the frying pan. Use this so you can fry the raisins until they are all puffed up. Once you are done, remove them and set them aside first. Add a little more lard unto the frying pan and then fry the chili paste in it for a few minutes. Put the chicken stock along with it and then add the tomatoes and the raisins. Bring it to a boil and cook it for around 15 minutes. Make sure that the sauce thickens before putting the chocolate next.

On the other hand, fry the chicken in a large frying pan until it turns brown then transfer it to a casserole dish and cover it with sauce. Place it in an oven and pre-heat it to 180 celcius and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, you can now enjoy your Mole Poblano.

3 comments:

Mexican food is known for using all kind of chilies on their dish.They make the best food that has been favorite by Americans too.Mole is among the favorite .I haven't tried this yet but knowing chocolates and chili,for sure this meal is superb.